SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 11, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crescendo Bioscience®, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to developing quantitative blood tests and disease information services for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases, today announced the global launch of its latest patient support tool, a free iPhone app called MyRA™ that can help patients track their RA on a daily basis.
A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=17531
MyRA is an iPhone app that runs on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices and was recently featured as a "New and Noteworthy" app on Apple iTunes. Launched in the United States in November 2012, MyRA quickly gained an enthusiastic following and Crescendo Bioscience received multiple inquiries about ex-U.S. availability. MyRA is now available worldwide as of March 6, 2013 and nearly 2,500 people downloaded MyRA in the first week of March, alone.
"The MyRA app allows me to track where I'm hurting, how I'm hurting and why I'm hurting. I use it every day, whenever I can, after whatever I do, so that I can track what specific types of treatments and activities are helping in my fight against Rheumatoid Arthritis," said Stephanie Aleite, patient advocate, online blogger and fellow RAchick. "The MyRA app gives us, as patients the power to give our doctors and researchers the knowledge they require to better fight our disease."
MyRA was designed to empower patients to regularly track multiple aspects of their RA and easily share the information with their doctors. MyRA was developed with the input of both patients and healthcare providers and has received high praise for its ability to track multiple aspects of RA (e.g. medications, morning stiffness, joint pain, daily functionality, etc.) and integrate them into a summary report that can be easily shared with doctors. MyRA is customizable and allows patients to track the areas they care most about. Patients can share a summary report of tracked data with their doctors, enabling them to more effectively communicate how they're doing, which helps doctors to better treat and manage their patients' RA.
"MyRA was developed to help patients answer the question 'How are you doing?' and facilitate better patient-physician communication," said Kelly Chow, Director of Patient Marketing at Crescendo Bioscience. "It was created after many months of listening to patients and rheumatologists and identifying what they felt was missing in that communication. MyRA is intended to be a simple and easy-to-use way for people living with RA to play an active role in the management of their disease. The summary report generated through MyRA really helps to paint a more complete picture of the patient's disease – and is designed to complement a rheumatologist's expert clinical assessment and the use of other objective tools like our Vectra™ DA blood test."
Crescendo Bioscience took on the challenge of developing a free mobile app specifically for people living with RA as part of its ongoing commitment to provide valuable disease information services to the rheumatology community. Crescendo Bioscience also markets Vectra DA, a precise, objective multi-biomarker blood test validated to assess disease activity in RA. Vectra DA simultaneously measures 12 immune, endothelial, bone, cartilage and metabolic biomarkers that reflect the underlying biology of RA and generates a single score from 1 to 100 that classifies RA disease activity as low, moderate or high. Vectra DA can be used to provide a baseline assessment of RA disease activity, and perhaps more importantly, can help track changes in disease activity in new patients or after therapy initiation or change.
For more information on MyRA, please visit, www.trackMyRA.com.
About RA
RA is a debilitating, highly variable, chronic disease affecting approximately 1.5 million Americans and more than two million people in Europe. The primary symptoms of RA are painful swollen joints and fatigue, with the disease often resulting in joint damage and disability. RA is a systemic disease that can significantly affect other parts of the body, resulting in infection, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and causes an increased rate of mortality.
Clinicians assess RA based on three factors: disease activity (clinical signs and symptoms), structural damage in joints, such as erosions, and functional status (including pain). Many of the current clinical assessment tools used by physicians are qualitative and subjective and they may not adequately identify key properties of the disease.
Early and accurate detection of RA, accompanied by effective therapy with frequent monitoring of disease activity, is critical for optimizing clinical outcomes. The American College of Rheumatology has developed guidelines supporting the goals of "Treat to Target" and "Tight Control" to help clinicians achieve clinical and structural remission in their patients, and improve their long-term functional status.
About Vectra™ DA
Vectra DA is the only multi-biomarker blood test for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity that integrates the concentrations of 12 serum proteins associated with RA disease activity into a single objective score to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions. Vectra DA testing is performed at Crescendo Bioscience's state-of-the-art CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) facility and test results are reported to the physician 7 to 10 days following receipt of the blood sample. Physicians can receive test results via standard mail, by fax or via the private web portal, VectraView. For more information on Vectra DA, please visit, www.Vectra-DA.com.
About Crescendo Bioscience®, Inc.
Crescendo Bioscience is a molecular diagnostics company focused in rheumatology and located in South San Francisco, CA. Crescendo Bioscience develops quantitative, objective, blood tests to provide rheumatologists with deeper clinical insights to help enable more effective management of patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.CrescendoBio.com.
The photo is also available via AP PhotoExpress.
